Stoner rides to sixth victory of the year at Czech Grand Prix

Photo: Reuters

Australia’s world championship leader Casey Stoner stormed to his sixth victory of the season in the MotoGP race at the Czech Grand Prix in Brno yesterday.

Stoner, winning here for the first time since 2007 the same year he went on to win the world crown, beat his Honda Repsol teammate Andrea Dovizioso of Italy by 6.532 seconds.

“I had a really tough battle with Andrea [Dovizioso] in the early laps, but once I got past him I realized the bike had enough speed,” Stoner said.

Italy’s Marco Simoncelli on another Honda came in third — for his first ever podium placing at this level — while defending world champion Jorge Lorenzo lost more points to the Australian in finishing fourth.

“We as a team were confident of achieving a podium position this season and I am really happy to have got my first one,” Simoncelli said.

Pole-sitter Dani Pedrosa crashed out on lap three, followed by Cal Crutchlow, Karel Abraham and Alvaro Bautista, who also failed to finish after crashes.

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